The present invention relates to a device for transfering especially passengers with a reduced ability to move, primarily sitting in wheelchairs between a platform and a passenger department of a vehicle having a passenger department with a floor on a first level being higher than a second level, corresponding to the platform level when the vehicle is standing adjacent to a platform, by at least a normal height of a stair, in which it comprises an arrangement adapted to receive a passenger on a support surface and power means adapted to move said support surface between the two levels, and in which one or several stairs are arranged so as to allow other passengers to go between the different levels by themselves.
Devices of this type are mainly used for making it possible for persons sitting in a wheelchair to get off and get on railway carriages or cars having said difference in level between the floor of the passenger department and the platform, so that this particular application will be discussed hereinafter for illuminating but not at all restricting the invention. When there is such a level difference, which is the case in most railway carriages, between the floor of a passenger department, i.e. a passenger carriage, and a platform plane, difficulties arise when passengers sitting in a wheelchair are going to get on and off the train.
It is impossible for a person sitting in a wheelchair to move between the two levels without any type of lifting device, and devices of the type defined in the introduction are therefor arranged in certain railway carriages. A support plane having a said support surface projectable at a door opening into the railway carriage in question is arranged in these carriages, where also a staircase is leading from a railway carriage down to the platform, and the support plane may be lowered down to the platform so that a person sitting in a wheelchair can roll on to the supporting plane, whereupon this can be lifted to the same level as the door opening, so that the person may roll in with the wheelchair on to the floor located on the first level. A disadvantage of these devices already known is that, when the arrangement is used for moving the person sitting in a wheelchair between the two levels, this arrangement blocks the staircase leading between the two levels, so that the other passengers may not get on or off the train and the door opening in question as long as the lifting arrangement is used, but this has to be pivoted entirely away or be drawn in before other may pass the door opening, which may be very disturbing.
The object of the present invention is to provide a device of the type defined in the introduction, which finds a remedy to the inconveniences of such devices already known.
This object is according to the invention obtained by the fact that a first floor surface inside the vehicle closest to an entrance into the vehicle from a platform side is arranged substantially on said second level, that the power means are adapted to move said support surface between said two levels so as to join a first floor surface on the second level and on the first level join a second floor surface leading to the passenger department and belonging thereto, the arrangement is arranged with the support surface thereof at a distance from said entrance inside the vehicle and having this reachable from the entrance through said first floor surface, and a staircase between the second and the first level is arranged beside the support surface of the arrangement and directly reachable through said first floor surface as well as said second floor surface independently of the position of the support surface.
By arranging a first floor surface located on the second level, i.e. the platform level, in this way inside the vehicle and the arrangement with the support surface thereof inside the vehicle at a distance from the entrance and reachable from the entrance through the first floor surface as well as a staircase between the second and the first level beside the support surface of the arrangement and directly reachable through said first floor surface as well as said second floor surface independently of the position of the support surface, a free passage for other passengers into and out of the vehicle and between platform level and passenger department level is achieved independently of whether any passenger sitting in a wheelchair for the moment is occupied with moving between said two levels, so that the actions taken by this person not in any way disturb the other passengers and the latters are neither in the way of the person sitting in the wheelchair.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention the vehicle has said entrances on both sides thereof and the arrangement is arranged with said support surface in a mid region between the two entrances and reachable from both these entrances through said first floor surface with a staircase leading from a first and a second floor surface on each side of said support surface laterally between the entrance and the support surface. A free passage on both sides of the lifting arrangement for other passengers between the two levels is obtained by this, i.e. independently of which entrance is utilised at a given moment, i.e. on which side of the train the platform is located, and the person in the wheelchair may get into the train from both sides and reach the support surface so as to move to the passenger department floor surface. The corresponding discussion is of course valid for getting off case.
According to another preferred embodiment of the invention the support surface is turnable about a substantially vertical axis. It is by this possible that for example a wheelchair with a passenger sitting in it may be driven on to the support surface with an orientation not matching the orientation the wheelchair should have when the lifting or the lowering between the two levels has been carried out, since a turning of the support surface in connection with this lifting or lowering may take care of this discrepancy.
According to another preferred embodiment of the invention, which constitutes a further development of the embodiment last mentioned, the device comprises power means controllable to cause optional turning of said support surface so as to change the orientation of a passenger resting on the support surface upon transfer thereof between the two levels. It is a matter of course that it is an advantage that the turning may take place through an optionally controllable power means.
According to another preferred embodiment of the invention said power means for turning are adapted to cause turning of the support surface by substantially 90xc2x0 so as to make it possible to get on and get off the support surface in a substantially transversal direction on said second level and a substantially longitudinal direction on said first level with respect to the driving direction of the railway vehicle. This is very advantageous, since it is suitable to get into and out of for example a railway carriage straight from the side, i.e. in said transversal direction, but after that move in the carriage in the longitudinal direction thereof, i.e. in said longitudinal direction. A direction change desired at a transfer between the two levels is according to this embodiment achieved in a comfortable way.
According to another preferred embodiment of the invention said power means for the turning movement is arranged to automatically cause a turning of a support surface by substantially 90xc2x0 in connection with said transfer between the two levels. An optimum orientation of for example a wheelchair with respect to the respective level is by this obtained in a comfortable way and automatically.
According to another preferred embodiment of the invention said power means for the turning movement may be optionally actuated to turn the support surface into one or the other direction depending upon on which side of the vehicle a platform for getting off/getting on is located in connection with movement of the support surface in the vertical direction between the first level and the second level. A correct adaption of the orientation of a wheelchair located on the support surface independently of the direction from which it has been rolled on to the support surface or in which direction this is intended to be rolled off the support surface is obtained by this.
According to another preferred embodiment of the invention the device comprises operating means for controlling the arrangement, which may be actuated by a said passenger having a reduced ability to move. The operation or control of the device according to the invention is by this simplified substantially, since no train staff is needed for this, which is the case for the devices already known of this type, since they are so configurated that the person sitting in the wheelchair may not reach the operating means, and it is neither desirable that this could take place as a consequence of the accidents which could be a result thereof.
According to another preferred embodiment of the invention the device comprises a footbridge-like member projectable from the vehicle at said entrance on substantially the same level as the first support floor surface for at least partially bridging the gap between said first support floor surface and an adjacent platform when the vehicle is standing at a platform. The rolling on and off of a person sitting in a wheelchair onto and off, respectively, the vehicle is by this facilitated.
According to another preferred embodiment of the invention said support surface is substantially circle round. Such a design of the support surface has turned out to be advantageous, since it is desired that the support surface should be turnable, and the co-operation with the surrounding floor surfaces gets very advantageous for such a shape of the support surface for such turning.
According to another preferred embodiment of the invention the staircase has three stairs. This is advantageous, since level differences between the platform and the floor surface of the passenger department normally are such that three stairs are suitable.
Further advantages as well as advantageous features of the invention will appear from the following description and the other dependent claims.